Test equipment



Jan. 3, 1939.

.H. c. ROBINSON 2,142,655

TEST EQUIPMENT Filed May 14. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet Marginal INVENTOR.

H.C. ROBiNSON I ATTORNEY.

Jan 3, 1939. H. c. ROBINSON TEST EQUI PMENT Filed May 14., 195 2Sheets-Shet 2 INVENTOR. HzC, ROBINSON ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 3, 1939 UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,142,655ras'rnomrucm r Harold 0. Robinson, Providence, a. L, assignor toAssociated'Electric Laboratories, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation ofDelaware Application May 14, 193e, serial No. 19,134

3 Claims.

ing a ticket, together with certain relays for con-- trolling thesequence'of operations of the ma chine. i I

Theticket machine here illustrated and tested is the type used at racecourses for issuing tickets of a 'certain ,value on any one of a numberof competitors. In such systems a totalizer is provided foreach'competitor to totalize all tickets.

issued by the machine on that competitor and a grand totalizer isprovided for totaling a tick-.

ets issued by all machines. The competit grand totalizers are connectedto the machines in such a manner that impulses are sent back and forthbetween them and the machine to insure proper registration of eachticket issued before the machine can be again operated.

The object of this invention is, therefore,.to

provide a testing equipment which, may be connected to anyticket-issuing machine of a system and which may then be controlled totest all of 1 the functions of that machine one after another andindicate any faults either in the operation of the machine or initssending of signals to the totalizers. Further featureswill beexplained in the following detailed description by reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the essential parts of aticket-issuing machine.

Fig. 2 shows my improved test equipment which is shown connected to themachine of Fig. l for testing that machine. 4o The ticket machine showndiagrammatically in Fig. 1 is of a well known type in general use-atrace courses and this figure is a copy of Fig. 3

in my copending application Ser. No. 734,940 filed July 13, 1934. Insaid prior application this 4; machine is shown connected to thetotalizers and its operation with the totalizers is fully explained. Inthe present disclosure the leads from the machine are shownco'nnected tothe test equipment 4 instead of to the totalizers. In practice, incomsomercial installations the machines are-jack connected to thetotalizersbymeans of the various leads shown at the left of Fig. i, and when it isdesired to test amachineits leads are disconnected from the totalizersand connected to the t test equipment. In the present disclosure ,1 haveandtrated or explained in further detail. indicated the motor whichoperates the machine shown all leads connected to the test equipment andhave indicated by X at the left of Fig. 1 a set of contacts in each leadwhich represent the plug and jack contacts or key contacts which connectthe machine and test equipment. 5

Throughout the drawings I have shown and connections to the variousrelays and it should be understood that a source of current is usedwhich is common and which has its positive terminal connected to ground.10

I will first describe generally the functions of the machine ofFig. 1and how it normally cooperates with its associated totalizers. Themachine comprises a. series of competitor keys H-l to H- -i2, inclusive,only 4 of which are shown, 15

and a test key T. Each of the keys, when operated, locks under aprojection on a locking bar l3, closes a pair of springs such as I4, IE,or II, a and also moves the bars I'I to the right to operate theoil-normal springs IS. The bars l2 and 20 II-ar'e normally held bysprings l9 and 20 in,their left-hand position as shown. In addition,whenever a key is pressed, and bar I! is moved to the right, the pin 2|presses the spring 22 to the right and thereby moves arm 22' to closecontacts 23 .25 and 24; The and 22' is pivoted at the point 22a and hasa roller 22?) normally opposite an indentation in the roller 32 so thatwhen the roller is inthe position shown, springs 22 may move the arm 22'to operate the springs 23 and 24.30 Also, springs 22 will flex to allowrestoration of the arm 22' when the roller 30 is moved off-normal. Theroller 30 always returns to the position shown after each cycle ofoperation. The magnet 25. is a locking'magnet which must be 35 operatedto unlock the bar I! before a key may be operated. The magnet 28 is forchanging the printing set-up in the machine from one race to the nextand its function is not here illus- At TI is 40 to issue and print aticket when the circuit of' magnet is closed to close the knife switch22 by means of its armature 28'. The motor also rotates the cam-ill inthe direction indicated to maintain the switch 22 closedfor a completerevolution and to open springs 22 and 2!.

Whenever. a key is pressed with cam 3| in normal position the closure ofsprings 22 completes a circuit for the lower winding of relay ll throughsprings 22 and over a conductor 2' to ground at the totalizing equipment(not shown). Relay 3| energizes and looks through its own contacts andthrough springs 24 and I8 to ground. Relay 2| closes springs 42 tocomplete the circuit of relay 33. through a pair of key springs such asl4 (assuming key H| operated) to the totalizer for the #1 competitor. Inthe normal operation when this signal to the 5 totalizerlim registeredtherein a signal is sent back over lead I through springs l4 and 43 toincrease the current in this circuit to operate relay 33. Relay 33 ismarginal and only operates in this circuit when the increased current issent back. Relay 33 operates and locks by means of springs 44 over acircuit including its two windings in serie and over conductor 43 toground through gs l3. The energization of relay 33 now com pletes acircuit to the magnet 23 through springs 43, springs 24, and springs l3to close the motor circuit and start the machine to issue a ticket. Atthe same time relay 33 completes a circuit to the grand totalizer overconductor 43 through relay 32, springs 41, conductor 43, and springs |3to ground. Relay 32 is also marginal and does not operate until thesignal has been registered in the totalizer and a signal of increasedcurrent is sent back. when this occurs relay 32 energizes.

and looks through its springs 43, opens conductor 43, and closes springs43. The closure of springs 43 completes a circuit from ground throughsprings l3, conductor 43, springs 43, and release magnets 33 and 34 inseries. Magnet 33 pulls the bar i3 to the right to unlock the operatedkey and magnet 34 opens springs 23 and 24, it not already opened by cam33. As soon as the opera-ted key releases, arm I1 is released and movesto the left to thereby open springs l3, and relays 3|, 32, and 33restore to normal.

As stated, the test equipment of Fig. 2 is designed to test the machineto see that all these functions occur at the right times in the machine,and the test equipment practically takes the placeof the individual andgrand totalizers to receive signals from the machine and transmitsignals thereto and check the accuracy thereof and also to control thefunctions by means of keys.

In the wipers of a rotary stepping switch of any well known design suchas commonly used in automatic telephony, which steps its wipers onlywhen the magnet has been energized and then deenergized. These threewipers are stepped around together by a motor magnet 33.1-The wiper Shas twelve lamps connected to its first twelve bank contacts and groundor positive potential connected to its wiper so that it always indicatesby a lighted lamp which of the leads ||2 the wiper 8-2 is connectedwith.

Operation position shown and conductor 3| is connected through wiper 8-2(in first position) with conductor #I of key H--| The operator nowpresses the key K4 to close. springs .34 to energize magnet 23 of themachine under test to. permit operation of its keys. The operator alsooper-. ates keys K'-| and K2' to opemsprings 31 and 33 to include thehigh resistances 33 and 32 in circuit. The operator now presses the keyH-l of the machine to test the function's thereof. A circuit is nowcompleted from negative battery through relay 32 (Fig. 2) springs 33,conductor 3|, wiper 8-2, and its 1st contact, conductor I, springs |4(closed by key H-i) springs 43, lower Fig. 2 I have shown at S-|,S--2,'and S3 winding of relay 33, and through spring II to ground. Whenthe key was operated, and springs i8, 23, and 24 closed, the relay 3|was operated over conductor 33 and springs 23 to close springs 43 in thecircuit of relay 33. Relay 32 is of high resistance and does not permitoperation of relay 33. Relay 32, however, operates in this circuit toopen springs 33 and close springs 34, 33, 33, and 14. Springs 34complete a locking circuit for relay 32 through springs 33 of relay 31and negative battery. The relay 33 is so wound and adjusted that it willnot operate in series with any 2000 ohm resistance. If, however, any twoof the leads I, 2, 3, etc., should be shorted together either in thecable or in the keys H-l, H-2, etc., then this relay 33 would beconnected through two or more of these 2000 ohm resistances in parallelto ground and would operate. The operation of relay 33 opens springs 33and 13 and closes springs 1|. The opening of springs 33 and 13 preventsany control of the ticket machine and springs 1| light lamp L2l| toindicate a short circuit and removes ground from the buzzer andoperating magnet circuit.

The closure of springs 33 by relays 32 closes a circuit, assuming thatrelay 33 does not operate, for the motor magnet 33 of the switch 8 andthat magnet energizes to prepare for moving the wipers to their nextposition when it is deenergized. Relay 33 energized in the above-tracedcircuit with relay 33 to close springs 12 to close another circuit formagnet 33. A branch circuit is also closed by springs 33 and 12 for thebuzzer B/to start'the operation of the buzzer. No further operationsshould occur until the operator presses key K-l in the other directionto open springs 33 and close springs 31. This lowers the resistance ofthe. circuit backrito the machine over conductors 3| and I and shouldcause the relay 33 (Fig. 1) to operate. Relay 33 as previously explainedshould now close springs 43 to start the motor of the machine to issue aticket and should also close springs 41 to connect the lower winding ofrelay 32 in series with grand total lead 43 and relay 31 at the testequipment. Relay 33 also opens the circuit over, leads I and 3| at thenormal springs of springs 44 and locks energized.

Relay 31 energizes in series with relay 32 but relay 32 does notenergize. Relay 31 closes another circuit at springs 13 for rotaryswitch magnet 33 and opens the locking circuit of relay 32 at springs33. Relay 32, beingslow to release, as indicated, remains up for a shortinterval and maintains a holding circuit at springs 14 for relay 31which is completed by springs 13 of that relay. Again there is aresistance R-l3 of 2000 ohms in series with relay'3l branched off fromthe circuit including relays 31 and 32 and should lead 40 be-shortedwith any of the leads I, 2, 3, etc., then again relay 33 would energize.Assuming no operation of relay 33, then relay 31, at contacts 13,completes a circuit for relay 32 at, the machine over conductor, springs13. springs "I3, springs 33, high resistance 32, and relay 33 margin therelay 32 by including the low resistance 63 in its circuit insteadofresistance" through key K--2. Relay 32 should now operate to openconductor 40, lock itself energized through springs 48 and bothwindings, and close springs 49 to operate the release magnets 34 and 35to release the operated key H--l. When conductor 40 is opened by relay32, the circuit of relays 81 and I8 is opened.v Relays i1 and 58 nowopen their springs I3 and I2 and remove all ground connections from thecircuit of magnet 50 (relay 52 having previously restored and openedsprings 85). The magnet I! now dcenergizes and steps the wipers S-l,8-2, and

8-4 to their second contacts to light the lamp L'-2-' at wiper 5-4 andprepare a circuit over conductor 2 to the springs of key 11-2 at theticket machine- The operator may now operate key I-I--2 of the ticketmachine and the circuit of relays 52 and 58 isnow closed again throughrelay}! and the test equipment is carried through the same sequence oftests by operating first key K-,-l to margin relay 3! and then operating'key .K--2 to marginv relay-32. ,Each time also the relay 68 tests forshorts between the various, leads. After all keys H- l to H-'l2 havebeen operated and successively tested the switch wipers S-'-l, 8+2, and8-3 are moved to their thirteenth contacts, in which position aself-interrupting circuit is closed for magnet 50 through its springs11, and it will operate intermittently to step the wipers on'around totheir normal position as shown. The" circuit of magnet 50 is open inthis position.

A key K-J is provided which may be operated to one position to closesprings Iii to step the wipers. one step at a time to any desiredposition to test a particular key. This key may also be operated to itsother position to close springs I9 to release the wipers from any of itsfirst twelve positionsto normal. The springs I! close 'a cir cuit whichis common to all the contacts'in the first twelve positions of wiper 8-3and thus complete the self-interrupting circuit of magnet 50 throughsprings 11. The key K-J as stated is operated to close springs 84 tounlock the keys of the ticket machine and may also be operated to closesprings 80 which complete a circuit for both magnets 25 and 25. Themagnet 25 unlocks the keys H-l, etc., while magnet 26 resets the type ofthe machine to print thenumber of the next race on the 'next ticketsprinted. The key K-----! may be operated to close springs II whichmerely close a circuit for magnet. 28. of the ticket ma- .chine to causeit to issue a single ticket. This key K ii operated to. close springs 82and 83 is operated when the tester may have oper-, ated the wrong key ofthe ticket machine instead of the one to which wiper S-- 2 isconnectedaIn; this case the ticket machine relay 13 could not be operated by keyKl. The operation of springs 82 and 83 by key K-S connects negativebattery through both sides of relay BI to leads 3! and. This completesthe circuit of relay 33 and then of'relay 32, after 33 has operated, torelease the operated ticket-issuing machine key and restore it tonormal. The leads 3 and 31 merely connect negative and positivebattery-to the corresponding leads-of the ticket. machine which would'beleft open when the machine is disconnected from. its totalizersa Thusit will be seen that the test equipment of Fig. 2 replaces the'totalizer equipment and controls all of the functions of the ticketmachine which are normally controlled from the totalizer equipment. Therelay 6! tests for crosses or short circuits in the wires and cablingand when such is encountered, lights a lamp L-20 and opens the buzzercircuit; Key K-l is used to margin the relay 33 of the machine and sendthereto the increased current usually sent by the Having fully describedthe features and operation of my improved testing equipment, what Iconsider to be new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent willhe pointed out in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: r A

1. In a totalizingsystem wherein an addin device and a ticket issuingmachine are connected by a series of conductors, and wherein'the ticketissuing machine has a series of keysfor sending si'gnals to the addingdevice over said conductors to be totalized' and responds to Sig-J nalsfrom the adding device to issue tickets, the provision of a testingequipment for testing the' functions of a machine adapted to beconnected to the conductors thereof in the place of'san adding.device,said equipment having control keys and relays, and a sequence switchcontrolled responsive to the operation of one of the control keys toconnect certain of said relays successively to certain of saidconductors, said certain relays responsive to a signal over a conductorconnected thereto by said switch to control the transmission of othersignals from the machine, others of said relays responsive to said othersignals over certain of the conductors to step the switch to the nextconductor and to operate a signal indicating a fault when such signalsare notreceived. 2. In a totalizing system, a ticket machine having aplurality of leads extending therefrom and means for sending andreceiving signals thereover, a ticket machine testing equipment adaptedto be connected to the machine through said leads, said equipmentcomprising a rotary switch having. access to certain of said leads and aseries of control keys and control relay said switch operated responsiveto the operation of certain of said keys to connect certain of saidrelays to one of said certain leads, said certain relay responsive to asignal over said one.lead to return a signal thereover to the machine,others of said relays in the equipment-responsive to another signal overcertain' of the leads from the machine to operate the rotary switch toconnect said certain relays to another of said certain leads from themachine, said relays preventing further movement of the'switch in caseof failure to receive said other signal.

.3. In a totalizing system, a ticket machine having'a plurality of leadsextending therefrom,

and a series of keys therein for controlling certain of said leads, atesting equipment adapted tobe connected to the machine through theleads thereof, said equipment comprising a sequence switch having accessto said certain leads and a series of control keys and control relays,

means responsive to the operation of certain of said control keys forrendering said machine op- I erative and other means responsive totheoperation of certain of said control keys for controlling the operationof said switch to connect certain of said relays to one of said certainleads, means responsive to the operation of a key in the machine forsending a signal over said one lead to control said certain relays toassociate certain other or said control keys with said one lead, asignal returned over said one lead responsive to operation of certain ofsaid other keys associated therewith, eflective to cause the maotherlead, a signal returned over said other lead responsive to operation ofsaid last control key 5 associated therewith effective to cause thesequence switch to connect said certainrelays to another of said.certain leads.

HAROLD C. ROBIN SON.

